


SECRETS

by bulbasourx



Category: Assassination Classroom
Genre: Badass female character, F/M, Karma being a simp, Protective Akabane Karma, Secret Agent, Secret Organization
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-16 09:41:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28829070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bulbasourx/pseuds/bulbasourx
Summary: ❝ We all have our dirty little secrets, don't we? ❞▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃The Vanguard, an elite group of secret agents, has dispatched one of their youngest agent to Kunugigaoka Junior High's notorious 3-E, the class tasked with the mission of assassinating Koro-sensei, the creature responsible for destroying three-quarters of the moon.Enter Ai Eto. Trained secret agent posing as a transfer student. FYI: this ain't her real name.Joining mid-semester, she attracted the attention of every student and teacher alike. Calm and demure, the class was left confused as to why someone like you would be related to Gakuhō Asano.Especially the school's resident bad boy, Karma Akabane.I guess you could say her ridiculous cover story didn't last for long. Awkward, eh?
Relationships: Akabane Karma/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 5





	1. THREATS AND NAMES

**Author's Note:**

> i'm in love with karma <3

"Oh?"

The brown-haired man flinched involuntarily as the monosyllable rolled off her tongue with soft viciousness. Her blonde hair shone in the dim lighting of the room, loose tendrils delicately framing the sides of her face. Hooded eyes followed his fingers with overt interest as he reached to push back the papers in front of him.

"I'm sorry, ma'am," Gakuho Asano tried again, "but we cannot comply with your wish—"

"Wish?" Slender brows arched in surprise. "You misunderstand me, Mr. Asano. I'm not hoping for anything. We are The Vanguard, and we don't make wishes."

"We make commands, and we expect people like you to follow them."

Despite the worry coursing through his veins, he showed no external signs of consternation. He lightly shook his head. "I am sorry, madam, but I am afraid your threats won't work against me."

Asano failed to see the humor behind his words when the blonde burst into laughter. "You amuse me, Mr. Asano. What gave you the idea I was threatening you?"

She smiled widely. "I haven't reached that stage yet, Mr. Asano. And let's be honest, I don't think you'd want to see that side of me. We'll keep that for our later transactions."

"And now," she said, smiling sweetly, "let's get this over with. You're admitting my agent to Class 3-E, taking care of the fact that you disguise her admission as a transfer. Take extra precautions so that the Ministry and Karasuma don't catch a whiff of her real identity. Are we clear on this?"

Asano knew his chances were slim. Sitting in his dark, somber office with the curtains drawn to prevent being seen or heard, he felt his heart flutter with the tiniest bit of fear.

The woman sitting in front of him was no ordinary mortal; he felt confirmed of that. Her waist-length blonde hair cascaded down the length of the plush red armchair, her brown eyes glittering with unconcealed amusement. Her black fur coat was at odds with her white pants and blue top.

Everything about this woman screamed danger: the nonchalant cross of her legs; the amused gaze following his every movement; the relaxed tension in her shoulders. The shadows dancing across her face accentuated her sharp features even more.

Gakuho Asano had never felt so intimidated in his entire life.

Yet vanity prevented him from capitulating to her demands. "I will say this for the last ti—"

A feathery touch on his shoulder stopped him mid-sentence, his heart racing as he caught the reflection of a figure standing directly behind him on the shiny surface of his teacup.

The woman smiled ominously and raised a hand in mock greeting. His breathing stilled when he felt her index finger lightly graze his left cheek. The wall clock ticked eerily as a deathly hush descended over the room.

"Mr. Asano." Her voice was silky and deceptive, similar to the faint hissing of a snake hidden in a lush green forest. The calm before the storm. The sound of impending disaster.

"I have an unerring knack for sniffing out people's weaknesses," she said quietly. "You are not a man of many weaknesses, I'll admit. However," — she patted him on his shoulder, as if offering him moral support — you are afraid. And fear is your greatest weakness. Oh yes, Mr. Asano, don't give me that poker face. I have an eye for catching little idiosyncrasies, and your habit of twitching your left pinky certainly didn't go unnoticed."

"You are scared of me."

"Admit it, Mr. Asano," she whispered directly in his ear. "You are indomitable courage is finally failing, isn't it?"

His frozen stance was an answer enough.

"Now," she said, leaving her place behind his chair and walking towards the other end of the room, "meet your new pupil, Headmaster."

Asano watched, transfixed, as a figure emerged out of the shadows lining the back wall and stood beside the older woman.

The tenebrous figure exhibited a petite frame as she tucked a strand of black hair behind her ear. In the dim lighting of the room, Asano could vaguely figure out the white highlights in her hair and the multiple piercings adorning her ears. He blinked in surprise when he realized the girl had a small tattoo beneath her left eye.

"This is Ai Eto," the woman said, interrupting his chain of thoughts. "She's your responsibility now. I'll be supplying you the phony transfer papers soon. You've till the end of this week to get her admitted. I trust you can provide the extra details behind her transfer? Oh, and heads up: this is not her real name, so don't bother searching her up."

"S-She'll have to pass the entrance exams first," he responded, balling his fists when he heard himself stumble over the words. He hated both of them so much. Gakuho Asano never showed his weaknesses. He willed himself to remain calm and confident. "We'll be having midterms next week. Your agent needs to clear those first. They'll serve as her entrance exams."

"Fair enough. Anything else?"

"Your name, ma'am. I need to know yo—"

"Confidential, sorry."

"But—"

"That'll be all, huh? Well, goodbye, Mr. Asano. You were a delight."

Gakuho Asano gritted his teeth as he watched the woman open the door, flooding his office with bright white light from the corridor bulbs. Without turning back, she raised her hand in farewell and disappeared into the glaring portal of luminescence.

So busy was he nursing his wounded pride that he did not hear the soft footsteps approaching his table.

"Mr. Asano?"

His eyes snapped towards the girl standing in front of his. Her hands were shoved deep into the pockets of her sweatpants, her cropped hoodie revealing her toned abs. Her eyes, he noted with some interest, were the colour of an endless winter sky: dull grey.

"Mr. Asano?" She prodded again. Her voice was deep and melodious, surprising him when he heard such a mature voice coming out of a sixteen-year-old.

"Yes?"

She grinned, revealing razor-sharp canines. "You're a fucking coward, aren't you?"


	2. NEW TRANSFER STUDENT

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> at this point, i have no idea what i am writing.

"They just love to humiliate us, don't they?"

Nagisa smiled sadly as Rio's words elicited affirmative grumbles from the rest. The blonde sighed and offered Nagisa a shrug, dodging a flying arrow in the process.

"I can't believe they bobby-trapped the entire jungle just so to prevent us from reaching the main campus." Sugino sidestepped a pitfall, swatting a couple of mosquitos away from his face. "I really hate this Draconian regime at times."

"At times? Wow, you're better equipped than I am."

Golden sunlight darted through pocket-sized lacunae in the thick canopy; patches of light embellished the path as the worn-out students of Class 3-E made their way through the forest that separated the main campus from their sequestered classroom.

The day was exceedingly hot, as beads of sweat trailed down their weary faces and stuck to their clothes. Mosquitoes buzzed around their tired forms, occasionally provoking an annoyed complaint from the aggrieved party.

"This sucks," Okajima whined. "I don't think I can walk any farther."

"Well, suck it up, pervert. We've to get there before the assembly starts. You know how it gets if we are late by even a fraction of a second."

"Gee, thanks for the remainder, Chiba. Thank you for reminding me just how fucked up the world is!"

"Pleasure."

"He's not wrong, though," Karasuma reminded them from the front of the pack.

"The assembly may begin at 8 for the rest of the school, but 3-E is required to be there by 7:30 sharp. Besides, they've called this assemble to, quote-unquote, congratulate the top-performing students in the recently conducted midterms. Karma placed third in the overall ranking — a feat the school administration cannot stomach. If we don't arrive there on time, Gakuho Asano will not hesitate to strike down Karma's name from the ceremony list. So move your asses, kids. We cannot let them trample us again."

"Right, sir!"

"Hey," Maehara said suddenly, "I just remembered something. Karma, you ranked third overall, didn't you?"

"Yes," Karma said nonchalantly. He was the only one who wasn't in the least affected by the treacherous walk to the campus. Hands stuffed in his pockets, he gave Maehara a curious glance. "Why do you ask?"

"Do you know who else ranked in the top five?"

"Uh, that bastard Gakushu Asano ranked first. The rest three spots were covered by his lackeys, I think."

"No, you're wrong."

"Huh?"

"Say what now?" Terasaka pushed aside Isogai and Sugaya and grabbed Maehara by his collar. "You mean someone else besides Karma managed to defeat the Big Five?"

"C-Can't breathe, Terasaka," Maehara managed to choke out.

"Sorry." He didn't sound very sorry. "What were you saying about the rankings? And where the hell did you learn this from?"

Maehara massaged his neck gingerly. "Christ, dude, go a little easy on me. Anyway, after classes were over, I took a shortcut that passes through the park three streets down. Well, the sun had already set, and it was pretty dark by then. I was reading a comic book, so I didn't really notice them until I was standing diagonally opposite them."

"Who?"

"The Big Five. They were sitting on this bench beside the swing set, and they seemed to be comforting Teppei. Well, three of them were. Asano looked mad about something and was speaking angrily to someone on the phone. Naturally, I got curious, so I sneaked in behind them and listened to their conversations."

"And?" Everybody looked intrigued, even Karasuma and Bitch-sensei.

"Well, it seems that this new transfer student managed to ace the midterm exams and ranked overall fifth in the ranking list. Her marks in English and Social Science were particularly phenomenal; she'd surpassed both Tomoya and Natsuhiko of the Big Five and lost the fourth spot by just a couple of marks."

"Asano, from what I could gather, was speaking to his father and kept repeating, quote, 'Who is this mystery girl, Dad?' unquote, all the while he was on the call. I don't think he got an answer, though, judging from the way he snapped his phone in half after the call ended."

"Oh?" Karma said softly. "That's certainly very interesting."

Karasuma looked deep in thought. "If this is true, things could certainly turn interesting. The Big Five definitely won't be happy with some random stranger breaking their winning streak."

Irina Jelavić snorted. "Well, if she managed to break into the top five, I very much doubt she'll be coming to 3-E. I mean this class is for losers, duh."

"Certainly explains why you're our teacher then, doesn't it?"

"You littl—"

"Cut it out," Karasuma said in an irritated tone. "Irina, what are you, five? Well, she's right about one thing, though: this doesn't concern us. Seeing her grades, I don't doubt it in the slightest she will be assigned to the main campus. She'll be just another enemy when it comes to academics. Don't divert from your main goal: assassination. Let's get this over with, class."

"Yes, sir!"

"Hey, Bitch-sensei?"

"What is it, brat?"

"There's a snake on your leg."

"..."

"...Sensei? Hello? Why the hell is she turning pale—"

"Guys, I think Bitch-sensei just passed away."

"Good riddance."

▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

"Akabane."

Golden eyes met violet as the red-haired boy caught sight of the Chairman beckoning him.

"Oh," he murmured. "The Last Boss himself is calling me? What an honor, right?" He elbowed Nagisa. "This day just keeps on getting interesting."

Nagisa sweatdropped. "Karma-kun, you really are something else..."

Karma merely shrugged in response. He walked over to the side of the podium where, in all his glory, stood Gakuhō Asano, Board Chairman and The Last Boss of Kunigigaoka Junior High — the affectionate nickname given to him by the End Class.

"Akabane," he greeted. "Please take your position on the podium. Besides Teppei, erm, your third-place position, that is."

Karma smiled widely. "Of course, sir. But just between you and me," — he leaned closer to the older man — "the next time I'll be the one standing on the podium and holding the first place trophy — snatched right out of your son's hand."

Gakuhō returned his thinly veiled venomous smile. "Quite a dreamer, aren't you?"

"We'll see about that, Chairman. But before that, I have a question for you."

"Something beyond your genius mind? My, my, my, I am intrigued. Tell me, boy, what is it that puzzles even the great Karma Akabane."

"It's about the new transfer student, actually."

If it weren't for his assassin-trained eyes, Karma would've missed what happened next. But what did happen in the next few seconds surprised him to no end.

Gakuho Asano's eyes widened a fraction of degrees, his face losing its perfect mask of impassiveness. The hand holding his ceremony speech tremored for an instant before clenching the papers in a tight fist.

A good judge of human nature, Karma saw an emotion he never would've considered seeing in the eyes of this leading educationist.

His eyes flashed with fear.

"Are—"

"Go up, Akabane." He composed himself in the nick of time, waving his hand dismissively. "Take your spot. I don't have time for this idle chit-chat."

Karma watched his retreating figure with narrowed eyes. The Chairman went around the hall instructing various teachers, checking the decorations, exchanging a few words with some of his eager students, and occasionally flipping through his papers.

All the while he performed these mundane tasks, his tense shoulders never once relaxed.

▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

"—and today concludes another invigorating day here at Kunigigaoka Junior High. I sincerely thank all of you, both students and teachers, for their zeal and passion. Thanks are also due to the parents who believed in me and entrusted their gems to this humble institute." Loud applause echoed through the hall as the Chairman smiled appreciatively. "Now without further ado — pardon me if I said the same thing two hours ago, I tend to get a little carried away — let me introduce you to our top-performing students in the exams!"

The crowd roared in excitement as the stage curtain shifted to reveal five human-length white boxes with open tops. The boxes were each adorned with an elegantly painted number on the side facing the audience. 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th — ran the list from left to right.

"In the first place," the violet-eyed man began, "we have our student council president, Gakushu Asano!"

The four sides of the box fell open with a click, and the strawberry blonde stepped out of the structure, a haughty smile on his face. Tendrils of smoke clung to his frame as the smoky special effects attenuated his grand entrance. He was met with roaring approval from the crowd as he took his place on the podium stairs, a spotlight following his steps.

"Second place goes to... Teppei Araki!"

More howling erupted in the hall as the green-haired genius took his place beside Asano, his entry similarly hyped by the lightning and smoke.

"Here we go," Maehara muttered, preparing himself for the worse.

"Karma Akabane from Class 3-E." His voice lost the cordial and buoyant tone. No special effects followed the red-haired boy as he stepped out of his box with an unconcerned look on his face; moreover, he had to kick open the box himself. Clearly, they didn't bother checking his box for technical difficulties. Or perhaps they were hoping to suffocate him.

Karma flashed his friends a quick wink as the crowd booed him and his class.

"Ever the welcoming crowd," Rio remarked sarcastically, watching with amusement as Karma deliberately bumped into Teppei and nearly toppled him off the podium stairs. Asano — both the father and his son — gave Karma an exasperated look.

Terasaka laughed loudly. "Nice one, bastard."

"Fourth place goes to... Ren Sakakibara!"

Female screams were particularly loud as the charismatic Ren flashed his admirers a flirtatious smile. A not-so discreet wink was thrown in the direction of Yukiko Kanzaki — an action which did not go unnoticed by his fans.

Kanzaki cowered behind Sugino as the entire female population of the school glared murderously at her.

"They look ready to assassinate you, Kanzaki," Mimura commented.

"And Sugino looks ready to kill them," Sumire added.

"Oi, brats, quit it," Irina Jelavić said in an annoyed tone. "Looks like the rumors are true after all." She pointed towards Class 3-A, where the remaining two members of the Big Five stood with their shoulders slumped, their gazes fixed wistfully at the podium.

"So someone did manage to infiltrate the top five spots, huh?"

Karasuma nodded. "And looks the everyone is finally noticing it."

And sure enough, fingers had started pointing in the direction of the two students, hushed whispers filling up the empty spaces of the auditorium as confusion wormed its way across the faces of each student.

Gakuho seemed to have noticed the restless air surrounding the audience, too. He clapped his hands twice and every noise in the room ceased to be.

"As you must've noticed, there appears to be some aberration in the usual rankings." He glanced sideways, towards the top four students who were giving him equally curious looks. "In the fifth place, we have a surprise entry: a transfer student."

He held up a restraining hand before anyone had the chance to react. "Now, now, I know you must be surprised at the unusual turn of events. Rest assured, though, this new student is a very driven individual who has rightfully earned her spot here in our prestigious school. She's a highly capable and intelligent student who could very well uproot the standard status-quo when it comes to academics."

He gestured towards the fifth box that stood eerily quiet on the stage. "Unfortunately, you cannot meet her today for she awaits the arrival of her class and homeroom teacher in my office."

Karasuma raised his eyebrows in surprise when Gakuho made eye-contact with him. He felt unsettled by the look in his eyes. They'd been filled with the slightest trace of uneasiness.

"Though she cannot join us today for this assembly, I can at least acquaint you with her name and new class," Asano continued.

"Her name is Ai Eto," — another shifted glance in his direction — "and she'll be joining Class 3-E for this academic year."


	3. FIRST IMPRESSIONS

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter three is here, fellas! no clue what i am writing :D

To say that Tadaomi Karasuma was angry would be the understatement of the year.

He was furious — red-hot anger bubbled under his skin as he glared irately at the person sitting in front of him.

Gakuho Asano gave no sign of intimidation as he met his menacing look with a nonchalant eye.

"You look like you are on the verge of exploding, Mr Karasuma," he mused. "Can I offer you a glass of cold water? Or perhaps ice? Really, calm down a little, will you? Your veins look like they could pop off any second now."

Said person willed himself to breathe deeply and tried to rein in the fiery rage coursing through his veins. Breathe, he reminded himself. Don't let him get to you.

Behind him, his students watched with a mixture of apprehension and concern as the black-haired slowly let go of the dented edge of the desk that'd been in his tight grip for the last few minutes or so. His back was bathed in sweat, breathing heavily as his white shirt was now completely transparent — much to the chagrin of the students as they caught sight of a certain blonde ogling at his back muscles.

"Jesus fucking Christ," Nakamura muttered in disgust, "this woman is a nightmare."

The others sweatdropped in response. "Yeah."

Karasuma was unaware of the thirst party happening behind his back. "Gakuho Asano," he spoke coldly, "do you even have any idea what you've done?"

"Mhm, judging by your tone? I don't think I am supposed to reply in the affirmative. So I guess no, I am not even in the slightest aware, Mr Karasuma. Please do enlighten me."

His apathetic tone pissed off the Defense agent even more. "You swine—"

"Now, now, Karasuma," Asano chided him gently, "let's not get vulgar, shall we? You do realize we've kids here, don't you? Don't taint their purity."

Karma snorted. "Eloquent as equal, aren't you, Boss?"

"I take pride in my oratory skills, Akabane. Unfortunately, it's not very often I get to show them off. You see, I usually resort to physical violence and manipulation when it comes to getting my affairs done. Words come last, because, after all, I am a man of action."

"The only thing I see you as is a greedy pig with an insatiable hunger for power and control."

Gakuho stared back unflinchingly. "My, oh, my, looks like Irina-san's classes are helpful, after all. Impressive vocabulary, kid. Anyway, reverting to the original topic of discussion." He turned towards Karasuma, who was watching the familiar scene with a blank expression. "Mr Karasuma? Mind informing me of my crimes?"

"You," he began slowly, "broke our agreement. We — the Ministry of Defense and you — had an agreement that you would keep out of Class 3-E's business till the rest of the school year in exchange for a million dollars." Every word was spoken in a tight, controlled tone, alluding to the restrained rage running through the man's veins.

"But I have kept out of your business." Asano feigned surprise. "Do you see me rattling your little secret to the press? Just one call, Mr Karasuma, and I can unveil the truth about the destroyed moon and your little assassination scheme involving middle-school children to the world. I am a man of words — both literally and figuratively. I have kept quiet about Koro—"

"Quiet!" Karasuma snapped, his eyes shifting discreetly to the diminutive figure standing unobtrusively by the credenza. He leaned forward and breathed directly into the former's ear. "Have you lost your mind? Why are you saying such sensitive information in front of the new—"

Asano leaned back, waving his hand dismissively. "She already knows."

"WHAT?"

The brown-haired man cringed. Dealing with the man was as it is tough; the exaggerated loud voices of his students just exacerbated his headache. "Dial it down. My skull feels like it will burst any second."

"Fuck you and your ginormous skull," Karasuma spat, dropping his mask of faux tolerance. "You think this is a joke? Do you think the government is a joke? You were strictly prohibited from divulging any information about this operation to a third-party. And yet, despite repeated reminders, you do exactly what you weren't asked to. How does your brain work is beyond my intelligence. Are you just dumb or genuinely unable to understand verbal instructions? You decided to disclose sensitive information to a goddamned nobody. For all we know, she could be connected to a terrorist group."

"Enough, Mr Karasuma," Asano spoke in cold clipped tones. His eyes narrowed dangerously as he surveyed the panting form of the government agent. "I will not tolerate such deviant behavior in my school. Remember, you are just a teacher here; I am the one who makes the rules around here. Besides, I hold a clear edge over you: either control your urges the next time, or I swear the media will be having a field day very soon."

He smirked as he saw the black-haired man's stance falter slightly. Behind him, his students glanced worryingly at each other. They'd never seen their teacher lose his cool before. No matter how grave the circumstances, Karasuma Tadaomi was one person they could count on for solutions. To see him fumble over his common ground of coolness and composure was, well, very concerning, to say the least.

Asano seemed to take sadistic pleasure in watching the man struggle with his conflicting feelings. On one hand he wanted to hit the principal badly, but on the other hand he had students who are relying on him.

'Nature or nurture,' Gakuho mused internally. "The longest dichotomy to have ever been debated by scholars. This man and the darned octopus might just change these students for the better.'

'And I can not afford that, can I?'

He watched as Karasuma's breathing returned to normal; his fists unclenched and came to rest on either side of his waist. He breathed in deeply and turned towards his class. "I am sorry if I scared you, children. I am that I lost my temper. Dealing with this man will probably turn my hair grey before time."

"Karasuma-sensei," Karma drawled, "did you really think you'll scare us this easily? C'mon, you know us better than that."

"Besides," Maehara added cheekily, "you look like an overinflated chicken plushie when you're angry."

"Nice one, Maehara." Nakamura laughed, exchanging high-fives with the orange-haired boy.

Karasuma smiled slightly. "Yeah, yeah, we'll see if this energy persists when I make you run 100 laps of the field."

"Oh, c'mon!" They groaned collectively. "Don't be such a spoilsport!"

Gakuho decided he didn't like the male teacher at all. "Oh, what's this? Are you getting attached to the End Class, Mr Karasuma? Can't say I agree with your choice. Looks like you have a thing for losers."

Karasuma glared menacingly, approaching the former's desk with slow, deliberate steps. "I don't usually do threats, Mr Asano, but you're lucky they are here; otherwise, it would've been my fist and your face."

"Pardon me. Sometimes I tend to think out aloud. I didn't mean to offend you. On the contrary, I think you are a very competent teacher." He paused for a while. When he spoke, his voice had turned soft, a taunting undertone to it:

"Though I am not sure you're doing the right thing as a teacher right now."

Karasuma narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Huh?"

"I mean," Gakuho said, gesturing towards his right, "bad-mouthing your own student while she's standing here? Not exactly a good move, if you ask me."

Karasuma blanched. He looked as if he'd been punched in his solar plexus.

Irina's face twisted into a frown as she realized the cunningness of Asano's plan.

He knew Karasuma was ramrod straight when it came to dealing with his students: train them tough but treat them right. His sangfroid disposition tended to shatter the second he realized he'd crossed the line of decency. The guy may be rough when it came to assassination and stuff, but inside he'd a soft spot for children.

And there was nothing in this world Asano loved more than exploiting someone's weaknesses for his entertainment.

But Karasuma hadn't been the only one to have forgotten of the girl's presence. Judging from the guilty looks on the students' faces and from the heavy feeling in her own heart, all of them had forgotten of her existence.

'But it's not like it was on purpose,' Irina argued mentally in an attempt to mollify her guilt-ridden feelings. 'The girl looks like she wants to turn invisible.' That immediately made her feel more guilty, but she realized she wasn't completely wrong.

Standing on Karasuma's right and dressed in an impeccably ironed uniform, the black-haired stood perfectly quiet, not speaking a word through the heated exchange of words. Her slender arms were still by her side, her eyes perfectly fixed on a spot on the carpeted floor. Her skin was almost translucent and seemed to glow in the semi-darkness of the room. Her hair fell messily about her shoulders, and from the bare minimum Irina could make out, the girl had the face of a porcelain doll.

Long eyelashes fluttered about nervously when she heard the Chairman call her name. When she lifted her head, Irina and the students — minus Karma and Terasaka — gasped audibly. The girl was the most beautiful creature they'd ever seen. One gust of wind and the girl looked like she would fly all the way to Antarctica.

Pale grey eyes glanced warily around the room before resting on the annoyed face of Gakuho Asano.

"Ai," he spoke in an irritated tone. "This tardiness won't help you in the future. Respond immediately when someone calls your name." He turned towards the audience apologetically. "Pardon her, please. She's quite the airhead. Let me introduce her to you."

"Ai, this is your new class: Class 3-E, or fondly nicknamed the End Class. BasiBeingthis class guarantees your failure in life — something no doubt you're quite used to. Karasuma, this is my niece, Ai Eto. A complete dunce when it comes to academics, and I'm sure you've already figured it out giving her frail physique, but she's no good at sports either. Or anything for that matter. A nice addition to your class, don't you think so?"

"She's your niece?" Karasuma asked in a surprised tone. "You're being this mean to your own family?"

Asano looked genuinely nonplussed. "What do you mean? I am doing her a favor, if you ask me. Her mother — my sister — was no good, either. Obviously, the child here inherited her genes. Looping her in with you all, the certified failures of this school, is doing her a favour! She'll feel much at home there. Perhaps assassination could be her thing. Perhaps she could be the one to kill that damned octopus. One thing's for sure: she doesn't belong on the main campus."

"Wait a minute," Nagisa interrupted. "What do you mean she's a dunce when it came to academics. She ranked in the top five!"

A shadow passed over his face as his eyes turned several shades darker. "Because," he began, injecting a fair amount of venom in his words, "there's no way a child like her could do that well. She and her mother are cut from the same fabric — the bad apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Cheating is not tolerated on the main campus, kid. There's no place for her in my institution. You can use her as a bait for all I care. Just get this pest out of my sight."

A stunned silence descended on the occupants of the room. Everybody stood perfectly still. All eyes were fixed on the man in front, except for a certain pair of golden eyes that were trained on a rather startling sight.

Karasuma was the first to break the quiet. With inconceivable speed, he grabbed the girl and stormed out of the room, the rest of the students hot on his heel.

"You absolute son of a bitch," Irina snarled and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. "You—"

"Bitch-sensei."

The blonde blinked in surprise and turned towards Karma who was standing by the door, holding it open with a serious look on his face. "Don't. He's not worth it."

Irina breathed heavily and glanced down at the brown-haired man who gave her an unamused look. "If you're done straddling me, please leave."

Karma had grabbed her by the waist before she could even verbally lash out. "C'mon, I need to talk to you about something." He slammed the door shut with his right foot. "Say, did you notice something weird about the new student?"

"Huh?" Irina gave him a confused look. "What are you talking about?"

Karma had a thoughtful expression on his face. "It could be a trick of light, but..." He paused as if struggling to articulate his thoughts. "When that bastard said all that stuff about her... just for a second, for a mere millisecond, I thought her entire personality changed. At first, even I saw her as this weak, frail girl... but in that moment I swear it looked as if she could scoop his insides and feed it to the crows. Those grey eyes were filled with so much power and anger," — he shook his head as if to get rid of that particular image — "that for a second it even unsettled me. She looked positively murderous."

Irina mulled over it for a bit. "I mean the stuff Asano said was pretty bad. I don't anyone could've listened passively to it. So I guess her getting angry is pretty much justifiable. But the part about her turning into an absolute monster? C'mon kid. I have seen plenty of girls like her, and they are all bark and no bite. That girl is not fit to an assassin. She looks as if she would faint at the sight of blood."

"I mean I guess you're right." He did not sound convinced at all, and Irina knew he wouldn't drop it for a while.

But Irina was certain she was right about that girl. She was a cross between Kurahashi and Kayano — minus their abilities, of course.

"Well, at least she's pretty and intelligent," she murmured to herself. She wasn't going to buy Asano's theory about her cheating. Another thing she knew the girl was incapable of. But that didn't mean she didn't deserve to enjoy her time here at 3-E.

"C'mon," she said, grabbing Karma be the elbow. "Let's go find her and the others. Poor kid. To be humiliated by that man in front of a crowd full of unknown people."

Karma offered no reply but merely retracted his arms from her clutches.

They'd barely reached the school courtyard when a speeding figure emerged from the shadows on the right, barely missing the duo by a couple of inched and raced down the corridor towards the left-wing of the school. Irina recognized the shimmery black hair with a jolt of surprise.

"Wait, Ai!" Irina yelled but to no avail: she'd already disappeared.

Footsteps from behind alerted her of the arriving company: Karasuma and the others. They had varying degrees of stress and distraught running across their faces. Terasaka looked mad as a bull on diet.

"What happened? Why was Ai running? Did you guys hurt her or something?" Irina bombarded the man with questions.

Karasuma sighed exasperatedly. "No, Christ, that girl is too shy for her own good. After we got out of the building, I attempted to apologize for my words."

"At the same time," Okano chimed in, "the girls and I attempted to comfort her, and we like formed this loose circle around her. Nakamura here got a little too touchy and put an arm around her shoulder."

Rio winced as if the words physically hurt her. "Yeah, and I guess that freaked her out a bit, and she made a run for it. By the looks of it, she seems to have gone to the bathroom."

"We must check on her," Karasuma began but was immediately cut off by Irina.

"No." She shook her head. "Leave her alone for a while. We'll wait for her here. We've freaked her out enough." She looked at him curiously. "So, what do you think about her?"

"She's going to be a tough case to crack," he admitted reluctantly. "She's extremely clumsy on her feet; while she was running away from us, she tripped over at least three small rocks and nearly fell on her face on the stairs. Though she ran fast, she wasn't very nimble and looked as if she had no clue what to make of her feet. I mean this is just a first impression, but..."

"I know. I mean I guess she could surprise us." She didn't sound entirely convinced, though. "Also, judging from her reaction, it doesn't look like she's very strong mentally."

Karasuma nodded in agreement. "Everyone in this class has been mentally, and in some cases physically as well, tortured. Be it verbal taunts or being the target of humiliating pranks — they've seen it all." He shook his head regretfully. "This girl on the other hand looks as like she's used to pampering."

"Daddy's little girl," Irina summarized dryly.

"Yeah." He gazed thoughtfully at the ground, chewing the inside of his cheek.

"I am afraid," he said slowly, "she has no qualities of an assassin in her."

Karma was the only one who didn't nod his head in agreement.

▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

"Phase one is complete, Commander."

With her phone balanced between her right shoulder and ear, the black-haired girl massaged her throbbing temples as she listened to the reply from her superior.

"Yes, the plan worked beautifully. That darned bastard did go overboard with his acting, though. He'd better sleep with his windows shut tonight." Her voice was low and husky, much deeper for children of her age. "They fell for the trap; I could see it in their eyes they saw me as a "fallen" one — much like them. No doubt they think of me as a weakling. Oh well, that'll only help us in accomplishing our goals faster."

She cracked her knuckles twice and took out a sleek metal device from her pocket. It was around 0.75 cm long and 0.5 wide. The black gadget shimmered in the dim light of the bathroom stall. "I'll proceed with stage two now." She popped the device in her mouth and wedged it between her two molars using her tongue.

When she spoke, her voice had changed; gone was the mezzo-soprano. Her voice was now soft and mellow, matching her soon-to-be altered look. "Voice checked."

"Tattoos covered." She took several skin-colored strips from her pocket and stuck them over the various tattoos on her face.

She smoothed her skirt and got up from the closed toilet seat. "I'll be going then. Ciao." She pocketed her phone and gave herself one last customary glance in the cracked bathroom mirror.

"Time for some brainwashing, Ai dear."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i don't usually do this, but this was an incredibly long chapter and i would love to hear your thought on it! please do comment <3
> 
> also, i know this is a karma x reader and i haven't given him a lot of screen time, but i promise all the chapters from here on will be written from either karma or ai's pov. these three chapters were just sort of forming the base for the story <3
> 
> have a nice day/night!

**Author's Note:**

> severely unedited. please don't hesitate to point my mistakes!


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